a brighter future in the cloud

Last year, demand for AT&T cloud services surged to new heights. They’re part of our suite of strategic business solutions, which also include virtual private networks (VPNs), Ethernet and other advanced IP services. Revenues from these services saw 15.0 percent year-over-year growth in 2013 and now represent a $9 billion annualized revenue stream — more than a quarter of AT&T Business Solutions’ total revenues.

Our cloud services ride on our highly secure, reliable network, which sets us apart from other top cloud providers and keeps our enterprise customers at the center of the connected world. And we’re making the cloud even safer and more cost-effective for businesses with our new AT&T NetBond solution. It combines our VPN with cloud services to give customers a highly secure connection they can’t get on the public Internet. Our patented technology helps our customers safeguard their information and reduces the amount of time it takes data to move through the network by up to 50 percent. That means businesses have access to their data almost instantly.

NetBond is helping us strengthen our position in the global cloud market. Over the past year, we’ve worked with other leaders in cloud services — like IBM, Microsoft, CSC and Equinix — to expand NetBond’s reach. Customers, such as McKesson, are signing on as part of their cloud strategy. And we’ve also signed several clients in health care, manufacturing, retail and government.

“The time for cloud computing is now, and it’s critical that we help enterprises embrace the cloud on their terms,” said Microsoft’s corporate vice president Scott Guthrie. “By integrating AT&T NetBond with Windows Azure, we can provide enterprise customers with a more secure and reliable connectivity option. Our joint solution is making cloud computing more accessible than ever before.”

Not that long ago, cloud services were considered the future of data storage. Now that cloud services can be accessed securely, the future is here.